Tuesday, 28 February 2017

Yesterday, I told you a little bit of why Strangford
Lough was so important. If you missed
that, CLICK HERE. Apart from the
National Trust looking after 6,000 hectares of shore and seabed, they are also managing
200 hectares of woodland, saltmarsh, wetlands and fields in agriculture working
closely with the farmers in these areas.
They own 24 islands in the lough and manage a further 26. Today, I am
showing you one of the waders called the Oystercatcher.

This Oystercatcher above appears to have a shortened
right leg which made it lean over to the side when it walked and at times it
nearly fell over. You can see in the last two images what i mean. The bird below is having his lovely daily bath.

The bird above is not the deformed bird that is bathing but i enjoyed taking the sequence of shots although I usually video this action.

I think you can see from the 2 shots above that the bird in the foreground is not right.I am linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.Tomorrow i will show you a few shots of the Common Gull and Herring Gull for you to see the difference.Many thanks for your visit and also your comments.

Monday, 27 February 2017

This is a photograph I shot on Strangford Lough, near Newtownards. It is an Area Special of Outstanding Beauty and a site of European importance for nature conversation. It is designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest, a Marine Nature Reserve,a Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation under the European Birds and Habitates Directives respectively. Most of the lands in the National trust's care is intertidal and intermittently covered by the sea, comprising 6,000 hectares of shore and seabed.

Tomorrow I will tell you a little more about this important area and show you one of the many waders to be found on its shores.I am linking this post with THROUGH MY LENS.Thanks for visiting and also for leaving any comments.

Saturday, 25 February 2017

One week ago I showed you images of Miss G and Eiffel Tower Giraffes and today I am showing you a VIDEO I took of both of
them at a small game park near Blantyre in Malawi. If you missed the previous post, CLICK HERE.

Friday, 24 February 2017

Once again I am linking with Weekend Reflections and Friday’sHunt and today's prompt is H, Favourite and Shadow so I below is Mount Stewart HOUSE with a REFFLECTION in this pond. Then these are SHADOWS I photographed at the beginning of the walk in the play area at Mount Stewart ffollowed by Moi in a costume HAT and then HEARTS that my daughter Judith made in Malawi and has HANGING on a branch that she has
painted white.

Thursday, 23 February 2017

This is the part 3 and final post for showing you my
photographs from walking round Mount Stewart Demesne with Toby, the Ranger and other members. If you have missed the other 2 parts this week, CLICK HEREand CLICK HERE

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

This is part 2 of the posts that I am showing you of some
of my photographs from walking round Mount Stewart Demesne with Toby, the
Ranger and other members. If you missed
part 1, CLICK HERE

Toby,the other Ranger, Andrew and volunteers are monitoring the Red Squirrel numbers and trying to encourage them rather than the Grey Squirrel. This penultimate image shows a very clever device where if a Grey Squirrel comes for food, that grey rectangular area will have some of its hairs on it (Grey). They do not feed the Squirrels all the year round and make sure they place half hidden food for them in different areas of the woods.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

I saw this bird several times when Judith and I took our very early walk in Malawi however I was not sure what it was. Jo hedges (blogger) and her husband Grant as well as
their SIL helped me to ID it as a Steppe Buzzard.

Monday, 20 February 2017

Recently one of the rangers Toby, took myself and other member on a guided walk round
the Nationa Trust Demesne at Mount Stewart. Last year
they purchased the remaining acreage of the estate. This is part 1 of the images I photographed
that day, the remaining parts will be published on Wednesday and Thursday of
this week. Toby firstly showed us the play
area which is totally natural and features all the creatures from a book called
The Magic Ink Pot which Edith, Lady Londonderry wrote. This book is being republished this year
again.

This is the group of staff and volunteers listening
while Toby explained how the whole demesne is laid out over the 1000 acres. It will be exciting to be able to buy The
Magic Inkpot and discover what part all these creatures played in the book. Lady Edith wrote the book for her five children. Enjoy and when it is published I will let you know how you can obtain a copy (some of you asked me about this when I played Nanny Stevenson at Mount Stewart in October when the book was referred to)

I think children will love playing and climbing in this area and I hope you enjoyed seeing part of it today.

Like

E Mail Me At :-

Translate

About Me

I have retired from a medical background, from teaching a 3 year City and Guilds; and also running a Bed and Breakfast. I have taken up bird watching later in life however I became very enthusiastic from the beginning and was greatly encouraged by other bird watchers. For the past 8 years I have led a bird group in my town and have become a guest speaker on cruise shipstalking about Birds around the world. I have travelled quite a bit,in particular to Australia where one of my daughters lives. I have now as many birding friends there as at home in Northern Ireland. I love Nature and being able to share that with others of like mind. I also like photography and do my best to photograph birds although I sometimes get a bit frustrated as my zoom is just not powerful enough.

My daughter and family that were in Australia have now moved to Malawi to work and I have visited them several times as well as visiting Zambia. I.live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and it is a beautiful place to live however I love travelling and wil continnue to travel aslong as I am able. I would love to go to visit bloggers that I follow and they are always very welcome here in N. Ireland.